Chinese authorities are setting quotas on the number of Christians that must be arrested and are threatening police officers with dismissal if they don’t meet the minimum standards, according to a magazine that monitors religious freedom in the country.
According to the South China Morning Post, 60 police officers barreled through Rongguili Church in Guangzahou during a children’s Bible class, last week and shut down the church.
Authorities in China have detained the pastor and more than 100 members of a prominent, unofficial church since Sunday (Dec. 9), according to media and advocacy agencies.
Christian pastor John Sanqiang Cao has been sentenced to Chinese prison.
More than 300 Christian children in two different schools in China’s Zhejiangprovince were told by their teachers that they had to fill out a form saying they follow “no religion.”
In the midst of the Chinese government tightening its controls over religious communities in the communist country, 344 pastors have signed a statement standing up to the regime.
In Jiangxi province, authorities have forced at least 40 churches to display banners forbidding foreigners from preaching and anyone under 18 from attending. In August, they even published new rules stating, “Party members who have religious belief should have strengthened through education.”
On Sunday, Typhoon Mangkhut ripped through China after devastating the northern Philippines. The Typhoon brought strong winds moving at 127 mph with gusts up to 158 mph, and heavy rains that left at least 64 people dead and dozens more potentially buried in a landslide.
At the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, they have a display of many burned Bibles. This is the book that, down through the centuries, has been burned more than any other. Ironically, that even happened sometimes at the hand of church officials. Now there are reports out of China of Bibles being burned.
